Eyes Wide Shut
by kuroren23
Summary: ONE SHOT.An introspective look on how Nishiura's favorite battery see at each other.Abe x Mihashi.


Authors Note:

I have been obsessing over Ookiku Furikabutte for weeks. It's not unusual for me to obsess. I do it with things that naturally consume my interest or pique my intrigue. In the case of this particular work it's the POSSIBILITIES that haunt my mind and makes it nigh impossible to ignore. So I am surrendering as gracefully as I could manage.

It is a scribe's solemn duty to put into words what consumes the mind, makes the pulse skip and the heart beat until you are left breathless and set to dreaming. I only wish it was the easiest thing in the world to do. But we can sure as heck try.

This is an introspective piece from the eyes of two of the sweetest most poignant pairs I have ever been graced to see. If you can feel even a bit of what I felt for them—then this piece of fiction has succeeded.

kuroren23

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**Eyes Wide Shut**

**MIHASHI**

From the very start I have no idea what he saw in me or why he was so adamant that I don't give up on my dream. I had been living in the shadows of my fear…I was almost comfortable with it. But from the very start Abe saw in me something no one ever did—he saw a child that needed strong arms to protect him and a heart that's been battered and beaten for so long. Abe in his own way could with a few well-chosen words crush my frail certainty in the world around me—or heal wounds I never knew I had. More often than not he wanted me to realize that what I am isn't good enough to live in the real world. But that's ok.

_**Abe is my world now.**_

I see the world now through his eyes because mine has been long impaired. With my eyes alone I saw only despair…the condemning looks from the players I longed to played with as a child…the accusing looks from the elders around me…the condescending sneer that painted the lips and tainted the words I've heard continuously for three years with cessation from the constant self-recriminations and uncertainties. But that's behind me now.

_**Abe's voice is the only sound I need ever hear.**_

His eyes would look into mine and see when I am plagued with confusion over things that no one used to ask about—whether it was Momokan's instructions or school work. I wonder if it's the result of years of enforced silence that even when I really, really wanted to say something clever and heartfelt—nothing ever comes out. I stare at him—pleading to some hitherto unknown force that he would—could understand the words that I wish with all my heart I could say to him. But that's alright now. I found a way.

_**Abe's hand is our link.**_

Whenever he asks for my hand, I feel like we're renewing our vows. To be together. To be the best battery out there. He is my strength…my compass in the storm that I have been trying to navigate on my won for some time now. Abe is the warmth that soothes aching muscles tired and exhausted from endless drills. Abe' s arms would be there if and when I fall…ready but more than that willing…to lend his own strength—to be my strength for as long as I need it until I can find my courage and will again. And his eyes would always seek mine—to see if I am hurting—in pain…or in fear…his ears would hear the faintest whispers of doubt that escapes painfully sealed lips and his hands would seek mine…to show me that no matter what—right here…right now…

_**Abe belongs to me and I belong to him.**_

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**ABE**

He is more fragile than the thinnest sliver of glass. And yet there is a core of determination in him that's as steadfast and unwavering as the very mountains—and stronger than any metal on earth.

_**That's what he is to me—Platinum. **_

Mihashi is hard to work with. Any pitcher worth his salt must have his requisite quirks—I accept that—even expect it. But Mihashi is different from all of them. He is one of a kind. Precious as platinum and just as unyielding when it comes to his determination to master the art he had endured isolation and bitter memories—just so that he could be better, just so that he could stand on that mound, proud and certain that he deserved to be there at the center of it all. And just like the hardest metal of all, when heated and placed in the hands of a master it takes on a luminance and brilliance that could and would blind them all.

_**That's when he gets interesting—like quicksilver.**_

He changes from a pitcher that will not surrender his mound to one who acts more like an air headed piece of fluff—unable to make a single decision on his own regarding where to put his feet and hands. He is mutable—like water, flowing, always flowing where molding hands—in this case, his—directs the frail-spirited teen. Abe never knew he had so much patience nor knew so much about human nature as when he is around Mihashi. He calls in him all his protective instincts and all his impatience. But Mihashi is Mihashi.

_**Precious and eternal as gold.**_

Like his locks…soft and waving freely in the wind whenever practice has ended and he enjoys the last few minutes on the field…surrounded by the sound and smell of the world they both love. Like his eyes when they are calm and in peace—with the world…with the team…with himself. It's not often but it's getting to be a regular thing and the first one that I check when were together.

_**Intimate…like dawn and dusk…**_

Warm like the warmth of the sun during the two most significant moments of their day—Mihashi is like the warmth of a spring night—delicate and almost like on the brink of blooming—waiting for that final push before it surrenders finality to maturity and a wealth of new experiences. Just like the night he fell asleep after the fight with Mihoshi.

_**Eternal…like his heartbeat.**_

I swore I will devote three years to him. I know now that it wont be enough. Because Mihashi is now more than just the pitcher I dreamed of. No, he is more than that—he is like the heart in me—mine for all time…beating as one...living as one…changing and evolving…growing as one.

_**I claimed him from the heaven myself. He is mine.**_


End file.
